How Airlines Recover After Bad Weather

During inclement weather, airlines are learning to be more nimble in getting planes and staff off the ground faster. WSJ's Scott McCartney reports. Photo: The Boston Globe/Getty

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... airlines have made huge strides bouncing back from storms setbacks here with all the tricks and strategies airline to put into place to speed up the return to scandal once the runways are cleared ... is doubly SJ Middle Seat columnist Scott McCartney high Scott thank the much for being with us ... today to do it he said the recent storm Juno tested the Air alliance how did they do ... did did did did did very well the recovery was very quick the storm hit Monday night Tuesday was ... almost a complete shutdown ... although in New York airlines of pretty quickly started up the Tuesday afternoon Tuesday night ... and then now even in places like Boston Wednesday morning ... airlines were were going long before ... even some of the buses and entrance alot ... that is even as the party I understand it ... that ... this is an age to hang out what ... what's going on is airlines it was a lot about how to position their airplanes for quick recovery how to position their employees for quick recovery ... even added essentially position their passengers ... so they can get going quickly and part of that ... in turn into a slumber party strategy adulthood ... new York's Kennedy airport they put a lot of employees and hotels but they wanted some people in the terminal ... on the and and so that means caught some but the boys figured out that the ... Business Class lie flat ... beds on ... some of the wide body jets ... are more comparable ... the ... basement they commandeered seven six seven after two movies it was light out I love that it's a great ad for the comfort of their business ... that has got what about the new software that helps to reschedule cruise that's been a big help as well as in it ... you know this is kind of been in the vault in marked over the years in once early and use software to reschedule ... airplanes after after storms ... on crew re scheduling software ... there is big investment after the polar vortex last year it's got a lot better ... United Airlines and use the new program this year that they said that it has turned into ... a really beautiful optimization even plays and things like Southwest Airlines realize ... they had the pilots and hotel rooms are already there for their on a layover in Boston ... and maybe get a map of there and so they gave up seats to paying customers ... to put pilots and ... to get him out so that they would have to cancel more flights down the line makes perfect sense now ... sing a pilot called pilots ... on reserve what's happening with them ... yes United ... because of the Munich re scheduling software ... they're able to get back on the full schedule using only eleven reserve pilots um ... United teach fifteen eighteen percent of their ten thousand pilots on reserves were talkin bout fifteen hundred ... eighteen hundred pilots reserve intense storms ... they use them all and ran out and say you end up with cancellations a couple days after the storm ... because they've run out of Tyler and the storm ... a monumental change only up to eleven reserve pilots used on you know Abby and want to ... get back on schedule and fall straight right away that is the incredible and now I need it takes a little credit though also proposing airlines ... to be a bit more conservative as that rate ... yes I did so on ... the tarmac delay rules that force airlines to cancel earlier ... minutes turned out to be a good thing for airlines and a good thing for for passengers ... in and out stricter crew rest rules on so it is very complicated but it's actually ... incentive an eight hour layover on the pilots at ten hours for ... just one small example ... that and so that's force them to be more conservative ... and force them to cancel more flights early but its enable them to keep people out of hotels within see pictures of hundreds of passengers stranded on cots in airports ... aam people can stay home they can make other plans ... it's it's far more predictable than in the ability to get going on right away afterwards is what customers really want to ... know they're not on standby was waiting for two days to get to where they want to go out really well that was an a plus for this target is the wife got that